Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
main column styles; Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. But it is the gallery that is worth seeing:
the legacy of Rome has endured because of the 'built to last' quality of each structure.
Take a look at the model of the Temple of Zeus here as it will help to recreate the ruins in
your mind later.
Forum
The stairs outside the gallery lead to one of the highlights of Jerash. Whatever the light,
whatever the weather, the forum, with its organ-pipe columns arranged around an unusual
oval-shaped plaza, is always breathtaking. This immense space (90m long and 80m at its
widest point) in the heart of the city, linking the main thoroughfare (the cardo maximus)
with the Temple of Zeus, served as a marketplace and the main locus of the city's social
and political life. Today it still draws the crowds, with Jordanian families picnicking and
site guards napping among the columns.
And what superb columns they are! Constructed in the middle of the 1st century AD,
the forum is surrounded by 56 unfluted Ionic columns, each constructed from four solid
cuts of stone that appear double in number because of their shadow. The plaza itself is just
as spectacular, paved with extremely high-quality limestone slabs. The slabs, which in-
crease in size as they radiate from the middle, create a sense of vortex that draws your eye
to the centre point. To appreciate this effect fully, you need an aerial view which can be
gained from climbing the steps to the Temple of Zeus.
ROMAN PLAZA
Temple of Zeus
Built in AD 162 over the remains of an earlier Roman temple, the Temple of Zeus was
once approached by a magnificent monumental stairway, leading from the
temenos
(sac-
red courtyard). Today lizards sun themselves in the cracks of pavement, oblivious of the
holy sacrifices that used to take place here. The temple, on the summit of the hill, towers
above the city. Enough of this once-beautiful building remains, despite erosion and earth-
quakes, to understand its former importance.
A path leads from the
temenos
to the temple, via a welcome stand of trees. You can
pause here for a panorama of the forum and a small hill of pines (home to the site mu-
seum). As you walk from the trees to the temple, notice the intricate friezes of floral and
figurative motifs unearthed by French excavations. The delicacy of the design contrasts
strikingly with the massive size of the building blocks that comprise the inner sanctum of
the temple.
TEMPLE
